that's not what I was going for. the initial thought was that to me, the players are the lesser of 2 evils. which is my same reasoning for preferring democrats to republicans. I dislike both sides but if I had to choose, based on the info I've seen, I support the players.

Incredible that it crashed for that, but it worked fine through the Kovy trade.

Yeah I know it was bizarre. Not sure if it had something to do with a trade with two Canadian teams or what, and it never crashed last week when everyone was getting excited, and the main board lockout thread had like a hundred thousand views, and that whole thing with the podium. Then again I never logged off. It's only happened to me when I go to get on, and log in, and then it logs me back out again.

It's Burnside... but if a deal is going to get done anytime soon, I have a feeling that this is pretty much what it's going to look like:

-A nine-year CBA with a 7-year out for either side.
-A six-year contract limit with front-load/back-diving protection and 8-year limits for players who have been with a team for five years.
-Some simple buyout option as long as the buyouts were within the salary cap.

If contractual rights are being tightened, the cap comes down and their overall % of revenue comes down... I think that's the one thing they're going to let the players hold onto.

While I like the idea of CBA disputes not coming down to the wire, you'll never see the PA agree to expire the CBA without a full free agency period in the summer.

Perhaps that's part of the list of things they've already agreed to - if free agency is going to start earlier, then perhaps CBA will expire August 1st instead of September 15th - something like that.
But, I assume that'll be the final squabble in this mess.

While I like the idea of CBA disputes not coming down to the wire, you'll never see the PA agree to expire the CBA without a full free agency period in the summer.

Especially as long as the Parises and Suters of the world can still get lockout-protected money. That's also going to be something the players won't want to give up. And yeah there's no way the players are going to let the CBA date be held against them, they'd have a heck of a lot more reason to negotiate a CBA if it was June 30 since hundreds would be without contracts.

I honestly don't think it matters beyond that - beginning of August or beginning of September since neither side even entertained negotiations until the brink of when games could have been irrevocably lost in late October. And neither side seems really interested in doing a deal until the eleventh hour.

I had brought this up not too long ago, but I'm pretty torn on the issue - from my own perspective and from the players/owners perspective.

To me, negotiating mid-season and especially during the playoffs can get messy really fast. There is a lot of garbage and nastiness that comes with every CBA.... and I don't want that to ruin the regular season.

Plus there are some significant scheduling problems in the midst of an 82 game season.

Following that, you won't see many owners and players attempt to go head to head when one side is vying for contracts and the other side is trying to woo valuable players over to their team. It's counter productive to both sides.

Even right now, two of the more active players in negotiations, Chris Campoli and Ron Hainsey, have targets on their backs. Campoli is a UFA and Hainsey is in the final year of his contract - there have been reports that people on the owners side of the table have said that it's going to be a rough road ahead for those 2 to pick up a new deal.

You're pretty much left to wait until the market is bone dry and everyone's ready to dig in deep.

No league's ever going to play without a CBA in-season now after all the trouble baseball had with militant PA's. Even hockey had a short-lived strike on the eve of the '92 playoffs. It's amazing it took sports owners that long to figure out playing on expired CBA's gives the PA all the leverage.

And Campoli was going to have trouble getting a contract anyway. We'll see if Hainsey gets blackballed, but it probably depends on how useful he still is. I don't remember how the owners treated players who spoke out during the last CBA.

It's probably just an empty threat, but I'm sure there are a few players/owners who will carry over their bitterness into roster related matters.

I think the first week after the CBA is signed will be very interesting in terms of moves around the league, not solely because of this... but it will definitely ignite some trades.

There are probably a lot of trades on hold anyway...the week and a half post-lockout before the season is going to be like an extended trade deadline day, with RFA and some UFA signings thrown in for good measure.

It will be interesting to see what happens in Washington, among other places - with the great divide that took place in that locker room with the CBA. Even Scott Hartnell lobbed a grenade from the outside, speculating that teammates might not come to Hamrlik's defense the first time he got checked in the corner.

And Campoli was going to have trouble getting a contract anyway. We'll see if Hainsey gets blackballed, but it probably depends on how useful he still is. I don't remember how the owners treated players who spoke out during the last CBA.

Agreed on Campoli he's useless now. In fact I didn't even realize he played for Montreal last year, nor did I even know he played for the Blackhawks in 2011 at the deadline. I don't remember much of him in Ottawa, and I really don't remember anything past the Islanders in 09.

I throw up in my mouth a little when I think about Howie Rose getting a ***** of him when calling Isles games, and him raving over him, and being so excited, and enthused to call out his name just like Dipietro. It's even funnier than thinking Dipietro was once considered an elite goalie. Only Dipietro was legit injured a bunch of times, and can't even stretch without breaking something. Campoli just legit sucks! Not saying this cause I'm bitter about him, but he does suck, and is not the ''elite number 1 D man'' he was touted to be.

Jesus BG, you really hate unions They're not all led by Jimmy Hoffa you know.

Funny how the PA is 'mafia extorting' things when they're going to make out worse or neutral on every major issue in this CBA. If anyone's being extorted it's the players, as much as I can't stand some of them and Fehr.

And the CBA date is so more players can be under contract. It's not about plus leverage for them, it's about avoiding negative leverage of having 300 players without a contract negotiating a CBA.

I don't think the NHLPA is losing any leverage. I do believe the NHL is telling the truth and will not come further off any issues, and I don't think the playes will cave. Just a waiting game before the two trade off issues. NHL will win one major issue to an extent, players will win another to an extent. Keep trading, CBA's done.

It's still a dick size competition now though. Who knows when that'll end. Just a matter of time before you have Fehr and Bettman at the podium saying they've have a tremendous amount of respect for each other and then share some awkward handshake and hockey gets underway. Hopefully by New Years.

Agreed on Campoli he's useless now. In fact I didn't even realize he played for Montreal last year, nor did I even know he played for the Blackhawks in 2011 at the deadline. I don't remember much of him in Ottawa, and I really don't remember anything past the Islanders in 09. .

That is surprsing

He ended the 2010-11 Blackhawks season and started the Nucks roll thru West Conf